3-In-One Walnut Crib

I have been coming to Lumberjocks for a long time, and am finally posting a project. I decided to build a crib once my wife and I were expecting our first child, which is due at the end of May. It is made entirely of black walnut, mostly 4/4 but the legs are made of 6/4. The curved molding is also made out of 6/4, resawed into 4 strips and laminated. The few screws that were used during assembly to add some strength are plugged with cherry.

The design is my own, but I took a great deal of inspiration and design ideas from some other lumberjocks, ND2ELK in particular. Before making any cuts I generated a 3D model to finalize dimensions and tweak the design, the final product was modified very little as the build progressed. The crib assembles using connector bolts to threaded inserts or cross dowels, the front/headboard can come off to make it a toddler bed. Eventually the headboard/footboard can accommodate side rails to make a full bed as well. I also made the mattress support that you cannot see in these pictures, it was made from some leftover cherry plywood with strips of walnut around the edges. I took about a month to research and come up with the design, picked up the wood around Thanksgiving and did the final assembly this weekend.

I am posting this unfinished as I am looking for advice. I plan to use General Finishes Arm-R-Seal, but am debating if I should try to finish it in the vertical or horizontal position. In the horizontal position I would not have to worry about runs as much, but because there is a 1/8”” roundover on every piece I am concerned that it will be easy to get discontinuties in the finish when trying to finish one side and waiting for it to dry before finishing the reverse side. I am basically looking for advice from anyone that may have finished a crib or something similar and what approach worked best for them. Any comments and feedback are welcome, thanks for looking!

Having built two of these 3 in 1’s, one in walnut and one in cherry my 2 cents would be to use a natural oil and let the wood talk. I am firmly fixed on Watco oil, natural. Wipe on, wipe off, 2 coats waiting a couple of days between. Then about 6-8 coats of a 50/50 mix of poly and mineral spirits. again wipe on, wipe off. 0000 steel wool in between. A soft glow and not a shiny finish.

The first one I did the connector bolts and barrel nuts. The second I did cast iron bed connector plates from Rockler and modified them by welding a plate on the side for the long rails. The second design is way more easier to assemble. Could put the whole thing together in about 4 minutes.

nice job on the rails and headboard. Like the double curve. I did one and it’s hard to do. Nice execution.

Beautiful crib. I’ll be making on of my own quite soon. It looks wonderful in walnut, and I don’t know about you, but I love the smell of it as it’s being milled!

Just finished a standing desk and I used Arm-R-Seal for the topcoat. I applied it to the vertical surfaces with absolutely no problem. As a matter of fact, I found the horizontal surface of the top more challenging.

Just finished one of the beds, modified the “plans now” design. Made the bed out of walnut. The biggest problem I have had is with the connector bolts and barrel nuts – for me, they were very difficult to properly align. I would be interested in other ways to get around the problem but do not have access to any welding equipment.

As far as the finish, I used Minwax polyurethane, a very good brush, and laid the sides horizontally to apply the finish to each of the five sides (including the toddler side). By the time that I had done all 5, I was able to turn each one and apply finish to the other side.

After drying overnight, I sanded with initially 220 grit sandpaper, then 320 after the 2nd coat, and 400 grit on all coats thereafter. I probably applied a total of 6 coat of satin polyurethane. I didn’t have any real problems with runs or sagging – the newer polyurethane seems more resistant to those problems – probably because it seems to dry much faster than the older ones that I had used.

I have also used Watco oil – it does provide a very good finish but it takes a long time to dry, especially with successive coats.